


command me to be well;

by epeolotry



Category: Daredevil (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-13
Updated: 2015-04-13
Packaged: 2018-03-22 15:54:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 581
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3734680
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/epeolotry/pseuds/epeolotry
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>(pre-1x04) </p><p>Claire worries, Matt pines.</p>
            </blockquote>





	command me to be well;

Blood drips from a gash in his arm and Matt apologizes before it hits the floor. The _carpeted_ floor of her _friend’s_ apartment.

 

Claire heaves a theatrically long, heavy sigh interrupted by a fit of sneezes, courtesy of the satanic feline pawing at Matt’s knee.

 

“Ugh. I can handle one of you at a given time, but _both of you_ —“ she sniffs reproachfully, eyeing him with an almost playful exasperation.

 

“Oh, well, I’ll just get going then,” he teases, moving to get up. He dangerously sways, almost on the verge of falling, causing both Claire and the cat to yelp, until the former of the two steadily grasps his arms, setting him back down in his chair.  The latter jumps back and disappears into a bedroom, leaving them alone.

 

“Please,” she huffs, tending to a particularly nasty cut across his left cheek, “You couldn’t leave if you tried. And despite the mess you make, I’d rather have you alive and staining these carpets than dead and outside.”

 

“I’m touched,” he murmurs, voice low with amusement. He subtly leans into her touch; he's become used to the feeling of her careful, gloved fingertips. He longs to feel the untempered warmth beneath them, but he says nothing, hands folded in his lap as she works away, feverishly, and he pines, absently. 

Claire shifts her gaze onto him then, her eyes searching and worried, and for a brief moment, she’s glad he cannot see how afraid she is. Her fingers move from his cheek to brush away stray locks of his hair, and he tenses imperceptibly.

 

“You need to be more careful, Mike.”

 

“I _am_ more careful, I have at least thirty percent less lacerations since the last time you saw me.”

 

“I’m serious,” she says tightly, her brows furrowing, “You’re not a machine, you’re a man.

“Flesh,” she rubs her fingertips together, stained with crimson, “and blood.”

 

 

“Claire,” he sighs, rubbing his temples, “I give this my all, and it’s _barely_ enough to scrape by.

Anything less is just—unacceptable. To the cause.”

 

 

Her lips tighten into a thin line then, and she grabs his chin so quickly that he barely has time to react. Jerking it forward, her voice rises imperiously, “Listen to me. What you’re doing for the city: it’s important, it’s necessary. More than necessary, it’s essential. I get that. But, one day you could show up on the fire escape with too deep a wound for me to heal. I don’t know _what_ would happen then.”

 

She tilts his chin down so their foreheads touch gently, her fingers scraping against his stubble, “and I don’t want to.”

“I…” she steels herself, and yet, her voices breaks right at the end, “I care about you. Please just… _try_ , Mike.”

 

He makes a quiet noise of discomfort, and he’s on the verge of telling her his real name if only to hear her say it in such a tone of hushed fervency, thick with an emotion he cannot place.

 

Instead, his hand reaches up and cups her face, hesitating before stroking her cheek gently and leaning in, close enough that he can feel her warmth, close enough that he’s heady on the scent of her perfume. Her breath is upon his lips and he can feel her pulse quicken, hear her heart hammering. Betraying him, his own heart beats loudly in tandem. 

 

“I will. I promise.”

 

It is a promise he will try to keep; for her sake rather than his.

**Author's Note:**

> quick gross blurb I needed to get out of my system.
> 
> raise your hand if you've been victimized by Matt/Claire tbh i'm devastated 
> 
> watch me write a shitton for these two in a long, drawn out effort towards catharsis


End file.
